Postdoctoral position in computational neuroscience
A postdoctoral position is available in the laboratory of Dr. Erik Fransén at
the department of Computational Biology at the Royal Institute of Technology
(KTH), Stockholm, Sweden. The lab works on problems concerning the role of
the medial temporal lobe in working memory and epilepsy. We apply
computational modeling and simulation to address issues such as mechanisms of
dendritic integration in persistent spiking activity and as a function of
network synchronicity. We study how properties of ion channels such as TRPs
and Kv4.2 (K_A) affect cellular and network function in the above-mentioned
areas. For further information on our work, see
http://www.nada.kth.se/~erikf/
The postdoctoral candidate would work on issues of his or her choosing within
the scope of the project described below. The project will involves
computational work in collaboration with experimental groups. The candidate
must have a PhD and is expected to have strong training in theoretical
neuroscience, physics, mathematics, computer science, or engineering.
Experience from collaborations with or own experimental work is a merit.
The postdoctoral candidate will have ample opportunity to interact with other
groups in computational biology at KTH as well as within the Stockholm Brain
Institute (a joint centre between KTH, Karolinska Institutet and Stockholm
University) as well as groups in mathematical biology at NORDITA and
Stockholm University.
The project centers around "Intrinsic cellular mechanisms of memory" and is a
collaboration with prof. Michael Hasselmo at Boston University within a joint
NIH-grant.
It is becoming increasingly clear that in short-term and working memory there
are in addition to synaptic/network properties also cellular/dendritic
components. The project focuses on cationic (TRP) currents in entorhinal
cortex which are known from in vitro studies to produce long-lasting
depolarizing plateau potentials. Further, these currents are activated by
group I metabotropic glutamate receptors as well as muscarinic type 1
receptors, and blocking of these receptors have been shown to produce
behavioral deficits in short-term and working memory experiments. The project
also includes studies of the effects of cellular properties on network
function and importantly how these relate to behavior.
Candidates should send a CV, brief statement of personal qualifications,
previous research and future research interests, and email addresses and
phone numbers of two references to: Eva-Lena Åkerman (email: ela@csc.kth.se);
mail: School of Computer Science and Communication, Royal Institute of
Technology, SE-10044 Stockholm, Sweden.
Starting date is flexible. Salary is based on national guidelines for post
doctoral stipends. We seek to increase the number of women in those areas
where they are under-represented and therefore explicitly encourage women to
apply.
The closing date for applications is March 31 2009, but interested candidates
are encouraged to get in touch at their earliest convenience. For questions
or an informal discussion about the post, please contact Dr Erik Fransén
(erikf@csc.kth.se, +46-8-7906902).